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Hmm ok well I've been working with flash for not too long at all, a couple of months at tops, but i feel i've gotten fairly decent with it, problem is, i have no practical use for it, other than designing sites, i had one for myself, but i have nothing to showcase. I was in the middle of creating a really awesome site to show off my abilities (or try to anyways.) Well... Ok ill get to the point, I definately want to make a career out of website design/multimedia, and I was wondering what i should learn or what io should do to sort of become more successful. I'm only 16 and i want to have alot of programming/design/multimedia skills under my belt by the time i hit college, or be so insanely rich that i dont need to go ;-)... anyways, as well as pick up some skills, a couple of my friends and I want to sort of form a amateur group of website designers at my highschool, ya know do some free sites at first, maybe start charging a really cheap flat rate, develope our skills, etc, but i dont really know where to start, so any advice as to where i should start, id be most gracious... hmm ok well i guess that's all, thanks for taking the time to read my post!!

You won't get rich before you actually get a job in the industry. You'd be lucky to get 1 year of tuition paid for.

Don't want to discourage you though. I've been using flash for 2+ years now and I'm also 16. I found that most designers my age do not have the will to start a company properly, and finish the projects they might receive. This is why most people don't trust a teenager to do their website - so you should be ready to maybe start out with a couple free intros (for charity, or for hosting). If you're lucky (like me), you'll get a project by somebody who's willing to give you a chance. Give it your BEST. Satisfy the client, exceed his expectations. Word of mouth is the best marketing you'll get at this point, so maybe he'll get you some extra work if you did ya good job.
Once you get that good piece of work in your portfolio, you can start making offers on boards like http://www.webhostingtalk.com, http://www.sitepointforums.com, http://www.were-here.com or http://www.freelancejobforums.com . It's really hard to get good paying clients, so you're gonna have to be persuasive.
Good luck.
-Laz.

Possibly the worst titled thread ever. Business's are not amateur, business's are supposed to be professional in all aspects of the day to day running otherwise the business would cease to exist. Every week there's someone on the boards contemplating starting a new web company, many one which never see the light of day. Most potential clients, of a reasonable standard would most probably shy away from doing business with designers aged 16, mainly due to legal issues if for example there was a conflict of interests and the relationship between designer and client got rather messy. My advice to you would be to keep practising your flash skills to tone them upto a higher level were they could be then shown to potential employers in the future.

Contact some charities, fund raising organistaions and suchlike as they would give you work, maybe with little or no pay, but then at least you would have something in your portfolio. But don't aim too high just yet as you've only been using flash for a short period of time compared to a lot of people on this site. Feed off other members, you'll be amazed what some people here know, and what they are willing to show you. Good luck for the future.

Yeah, i realize that i havent been working with flash too long, but i do have a good deal of experience, the point of this is simply to get some jobs, like simplke ones for friends and relatives, the school and whatever, all i wanted to know was what i should learn, and how i should go about getting organized, thanks for not really answering either though, and simply stating that i dont have enough experience ;-) later.

in this forum you will find lots of helpful people. just try to ask more specific questions.

you really need to stop and think about were you want to go.

Are you going to charge for your services ? that means declaring income, that means incorporating or what ever in the USA.

do you have a contract? what services are you exactly offering.

this list is endless

IMHO start at the begining, and enjoy the experience.

for many people here it is hard to imagine that with 2 months experience you have the level required to charge for your services. these people may be wrong, but some of these people are your peers and seriously good at what they do (i do not include myself in this category).

Ok, see thats sort of my point, my point is is im just beginning and i need some practical application for it, i mentioned that i would start off doing it all for free, and for the people that are seriously good, im sure that they started sumwhere too, all im asking is some advice as WHERE to begin, what skills i should pick up if i want to ewver make this a career thats all. So basically my short questions are:

If i am to make a career out of this(website design/multimedia) some day, as i hope to do, what skills should i pick up?

-and-

Does anyone have any other advice for a beginner like myself?

thats all, yes i realise that 2 months is not a long time, but i feel i have a good deal of knowledge, and even if im wrong about that, the only way ill get better is with practice, guided practice would be better, so, im asking for guidance. and about this being a stupid thread name, you missed the point, its not an amateur business, it was meant for of like... hmm.. well i dont know how to put it, but yeah i realise that amateur and business can contradict, thats all

Technical
ActionScript (learn to really Develop in Flash)
JavaScript
XHTML (HTML cleaned up to XML standards)
At least one dynamic page system (ASP and PHP would be the two most common)
Database concepts (as sites become more and more dynamic, database principles are becoming more important for even designers to understand)

Business Skills
Business writing
Project management
Public speaking
Business principles

Id have to say probably an all arounder leaning more towards prgramming though, theres something sooo satisfying about getting a nice program to finally work after youve been sitting down with it for the past 3 hours...